The Hating Game (38 page)

‘
I recognize this. They filmed here a few days ago!’ Deniz exclaimed, pulling up in front of a shop and restaurant. They parked and got out, trying the door to the shop. It was locked, but the lights were still on inside. Jess rapped hard on the door and prayed someone would answer. The fog was rolling in even thicker and the plaintive cry of a faraway foghorn was downright eerie.

‘
Can I help you?’ An old man opened the door, peering at them through ancient reading glasses. ‘We’re closed.’

‘
Sorry to disturb you,’ Jess
said. ‘Just wondering if you can tell us how to get to Cliff Top Holiday Park?’

The old man took off his g
lasses. ‘Where they’re doing that show?’

‘
Yeah.
’ Deniz pushed forward. ‘And if you don’t mind, I need to ask you a few questions.’

‘
And who are you?’ the old man asked, raising his eyebrows.

‘
I’m a friend of
Mattie, one of the contestants,’ Jess said, before Deniz could butt in and scare the man away.

‘
Well, come on in!’ The old man swung open the door. ‘I’m Gordie. And any friend of Mattie’s is a friend of mine. She’s a good girl.’

Jess wondered
if the old guy was touched in the head. Mattie hadn’t been nice to any man since Kyle had left her. But hey, no point in contradicting him. ‘Sorry to have disturbed you,’ she said. ‘We just want to make sure we’re on the right track to Cliff Top.’

G
ordie rubbed his chin. ‘Yes, you go down the road about ten miles, then turn left, take the first right . . . But it’s too late to go there now. You’ll never find it in this weather, anyway.’ He indicated the window and the girls looked out to see that visibility was down to zero. ‘Come on, sit down, have a cuppa. You can stay here for the night if you want.’

Jess
hesitated and glanced at Deniz. She didn’t want to waste time – Mattie’s life may depend on it – but it was awfully dark and foggy outside and the thought of sweet warm tea and a comfortable bed was almost irresistible. Better to wait until morning than risk getting lost in the labyrinth of windy roads.

‘
What do you think, Deniz?’ Jess asked.

Deniz shrugged. ‘I
guess we can stay here.’ She turned to Gordie. ‘But do you have any coffee? I hate tea.’

Gordie smiled. ‘Of course. Come in, come in. I’ll put the kettle on.’

C
HAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Five per cent
of people claim they can’t cope with the mental strain of dating,

but ninety-
five per cent say they would date until they found true happiness.

NATE JERKED AWAKE, BRUSHING
OFF bits of crisps stuck to his cheek. Sunlight was streaming through the windows, and the digital clock said it was already six a.m.

‘
Fuck, fuck,
fuck
,’
he muttered, looking over at the monitor in front of him. He’d meant to creep out and wake up Mattie and Kyle. Somehow, though, his eyes had sagged closed. Thank God inside the caravan was still silent and unmoving.

He wiped his mouth, grimacing at the thought of last night’s antics. Together, he and Baz had dragged a comatose Kyle from the lounge through the narrow caravan corridor, banging his lolling head on the walls, then heaving the deadweight into bed beside Mattie. Nate had turned to go but Baz hissed at him to pull back the covers, rolling Mattie’s body into the crook of Kyle’s arm and stretching her leg over his.

Nate
squinted at the monitor. Mattie and Kyle were still snuggled up and if anything, they were closer now than when he’d left – Kyle even had his hand clasped with Mattie’s. There was no sound from the lounge, and the hunched form that was Adam wasn’t moving, thank God. Just how much of that sedative had Silver put in their meal?

At least he could still save the situation, he thought, standing and stretching his stiff legs.
Now was the time to wake Mattie and Kyle, before Adam saw. Opening the caravan door, he breathed in the fresh morning air. Thankfully, the weather had improved its disposition.

‘
Morning! How’re the love birds?’ Baz appeared from around the corner, hair and natty outfit perfectly presented as always. He pushed past Nate into the caravan, and then squinted at the monitor. ‘Good. They’re all still sleeping. Still on track for our bonus, mate!’ he said, clapping Nate on the back.

‘
Yeah
,’ Nate grunted.
Bugger.
How would he alert Mattie and Kyle now, with bloody Baz tailing him?

’
Ready to go rouse Sleeping Beauty?’ Baz nodded towards the monitor showing the lounge. ‘I’ve got Ram all set to film the action . . . Oh, shit! Kyle’s moving!’

Nate swung towards the screen, watching as Kyle eased Mattie out of his arms, sitting up slowly. He swung a leg over the side of the bed with a dazed expression then crept out of the room.

‘
Aw, fuck!’ Baz sputtered. ‘Silver’s going to kill us!’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘Or you, anyway. You were supposed to be watching them.’

Na
te shrugged, happy Silver’s plan had failed despite falling down on his life-saving duties. ‘Come on, let’s just go tell Silver it didn’t work.’ He pushed up his specs, praying this would be the end of it.

Baz stared at him
. ‘Are you off your head? We can’t tell Silver we fucked up – she’ll choke us with a sausage.’ He was silent for a moment, then a sneaky expression slid over his face. ‘Come on.’ He shot out of the caravan and up a path, disappearing into the trees. Nate huffed behind, wondering what the hell Baz was planning now.

Finally
, he spotted Baz ahead, at a clearing in the dripping forest. Nate looked up at the trees. Half-way up the largest one, a small platform was erected and a narrow metal cord hung between it and the next largest oak, about fifty feet away. This must be the zip-wire site. Why the hell was Baz here?

‘
Look, you want that bonus, right?’ Baz said in a low voice when Nate
reached his side.

Nate nodded, eyeing B
az. ‘Er, yes . . .’ He glanced at the wire, high in the sky. Just what was Baz thinking?

‘
Well, I think we should plan for a little equipment malfunction.’

Nate stared. ‘Equipment malfunction? What do you mean?’

Baz smiled slowly. ‘Fucking brilliant, I am. We’ll arrange for the straps on the contestants’ harnesses to be frayed, just enough to carry their weight on the first few wires. And then . . .’ He waggled his eyebrows.

‘
Then what?’ Nate couldn’t believe Baz was actually contemplating
this. He was worse than Silver!

‘
Oh, don’t worry, mate,’ Baz said, noticing Nate’s incredulous expression. ‘No one’s going to get seriously hurt. All we need is a few broken limbs, concussions, just enough to get them off the show – or insist they need to be in hospital under observation. The zip-wire won’t be high enough for serious damage. You with me?’

Nate swallowed. That cord
was
pretty far up there. If someone fell . . . No way was he going to sabotage a harness, sending someone on their way to certain hospitalisation. But if he said no, Baz would probably do it – or something worse – on his own.

‘
It’s a great idea
,’ he said finally. This way it would be possible to keep an eye on what Baz was up to, and warn the contestants.

‘
I know, right?’ Baz’s eyes lit up. ‘I’m spending the bonus on a deposit for a little flat near Ladbroke Grove. Only a studio, but it will be mine.’ Baz narrowed his eyes. ‘And if you get cold feet, don’t even
think
about telling Silver. If you do, I’ll just say it was your idea. As EP, aren’t you the one running the show?’ He smirked.

‘
Hey there!’ A skinny man with a forest of pulleys and crampons attached to him jangled down a tree towards them. ‘You must be from SiniStar Productions? Here to check the safety equipment?’

Nate and Baz nodded in unison. ‘Yes, especially the harnesses and pulleys,’ Baz said with gravitas. Nate raised his eyebrows, certain Baz had no more idea about zip-wires than he did.

‘
Sure. I’ll just talk you through the course first,’ the instructor said. ‘They’ll start there‘ – he pointed up to the higher platform – ‘swing on the zip-wire to the next platform. There are five zip wires and three rope bridges. Nothing to worry about,’ he said, spotting Nate’s anxious expression. ‘Safety is ensured at all times.’

That’s what he thought.

Handing
them a bundle of complex loops and buckles, the instructor continued: ‘These are the harnesses they’ll be using.’ He pointed to a large metal ring attached to a nylon loop. ‘This is where we attach the harness to the cable, and then the cable to the zip-wire.’ He gave it a hard tug. ‘See. Everything is completely secure.’

‘
Great, great,’ Baz said smoothly. ‘Do you think you could do a demo for us?’

‘
Sure, no sweat.’ The instructor walked over to the tree and scampered up monkey-style. He slid on his own harness, secured the buckles and attached himself to the zip-wire then launched off the platform, sliding along the line and disappearing among the trees.

‘
What the fuck are you doing?’ Baz hissed at Nate. ‘For Christ’s sake, get busy while he’s outta sight!’ Baz handed Nate a knife, then took up another and began slicing his way through the nylon loop the instructor had pointed out earlier. Nate grabbed a harness and pretended to be hard at work cutting through nylon. Luckily, his workmate was so caught up in destruction he didn’t notice how ineffectual Nate’s actions were.

‘
Hurry up! He’s coming!’ Baz observed, frantically sawing away at the loop. ‘There.’ Setting the harness aside, he snatched the third. ‘I think I’ve done enough to make sure it’ll tear all the way through.’

Shit. Baz had picked up the next one before Nate could even think to move it out of his reach.

‘
How’re you
doing on yours?’

‘
Fine, fine,’ Nate said. ‘There, done!’ At least one harness would be untouched. Not that it would mean much to the two contestants who ended up in a fractures’ ward.

Nate swallowed hard. What would happen if he
did
tell Silver? Baz would stick him with the blame, and then . . . Silver would try to distance SiniStar from him as much as possible. He pictured himself behind bars in a lumpy orange jumpsuit, shovelling prison muck into his mouth, and quivered with disgust.

No, he’d just have to warn the contestants, do something to make them see he was telling the truth. But what? There was no way Mattie would believe him after everything he’d pulled. Kyle hated his guts right now and Adam . . . There must be a way, somehow, to stop this whole thing.

‘
And that’s how it works,’ the instructor said as he marched towards them, chest out.

‘
Good
stuff!’ Baz handed over the harnesses and smacked him on the back. ‘You looked great up there, mate. Everything appears to be in order so we’ll return in about an hour or so with the three contestants.’ He stood up. ‘Come on, Nate. Let’s get this day started.’

*

Sun filtered th
rough the thread-bare curtains and Jess opened her eyes, taking in the floral wallpaper. The usual noise of buses and traffic was missing. Where was she?

Oh yes. The Isle of Wight, on the garlic farm, with Deniz. She cocked an ear, listening for any sounds coming from the rest of the house, but all was quiet.

Jess
grabbed her mobile from the bedside table. Shit! Almost nine! She and Deniz had meant to get an early start and head over to the holiday park before anyone had a chance to wake up. By now, the contestants and crew could be anywhere!

Quickly pulling on yesterday’s clothes and sweeping
back her thick hair into a ponytail, Jess padded down the silent hallway to the bathroom to scrub her face. Through the window, Gordie could be seen in a distant field, already hard at work tending to his garlic. What a glorious day, she thought, taking in the sun over the fields with the sea glittering in the distance.

Now
it was time to wake Deniz.

‘
Deniz?’ She rapped softly on the door. ‘Deniz, we need to get going.’

There was no reply. ‘Deniz?’ Jess twisted the knob and pushed open the door. The room was empty.

She must be having a morning brew, Jess thought as she ran downstairs and into the kitchen, but there was no sign of her. She peeked out into the car park in front of the shop. The Corsa was gone.

Unwilling
to believe what her eyes were telling her, she pondered whether Deniz had moved the car for some reason? Or gone off for an early-morning spin? Surely she hadn’t ditched her?

P
ulling on her boots, Jess ran out onto the field towards Gordie, who stopped working and leaned on his hoe as she got closer.

‘
Gordie!’ Jess could barely breathe. ‘Where did Deniz go?’